Quick and easy Scones

With all that walking up and down the hill, from the road-schooling camp to the farm, to milk herself and a friend collected quite a stash of blackberries which were going wild along the roadside along with some rose-hips.  I think one of my favourite things about travelling around NZ is watching themselves ‘harvest’ all kinds of wild growing fruit.  Apples in Otago,  Plums in Canterbury, blackberries where ever we can find them, kawakawa fruit in Kāpiti, rose-hips in Hawke’s Bay and even the odd raiding of friend’s raspberry or strawberry patches 😉

Anyway …. what do you do with a big bowl of berries and a pocket full of rose-hips?  Make blackberry jam and rose-hip tea for afternoon tea for your siblings!  However that still leaves a gaping hole … what do you put the jam on and still cater for the vegans in your midst?  Vegan scones of course 😉

Preparing the tea party

This recipe is quick and easy  to whip up for an afternoon tea snack and super delicious.  I got it in my in-box a while ago courtesy of ‘Cook the Beans’ which is a blog I follow. She had called them Watercress Scones though I think she may have forgotten to add the said watercress into her recipe as I couldn’t find it mentioned anywhere.  Either way I made it, and modified it as I usually, with great results so there are no complaints here ….. no even from the meat, gluten and diary eaters on the bus 😉

Ready to munch

Vegan Scones

• 200 gm flour (GF or plain, white or wholemeal or a mixture of both as in original)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 30 gms coconut oil (cold from the container)
• 1 flax-seed egg (1 TB ground linseed/flaxseed and 2.5 TB cold water)
• 100 ml non-diary milk (I used rice milk)

– Put the flour and baking powder into a bowl and rub in the coconut oil so that it is fully blended with the flour.

– Add in the flaxseed egg and milk then ‘cut’ the liquid into the dry ingredients with a knife until a dough is formed.  You may need to help it with your hand near the end to form a ball

– Flour a baking tray and flatten dough into a fat rectangle shape.  Cut this into 12 or 16 pieces depending on the size of scone you desire.

– Separate the scones a little on the floured tray and then bake at 200 Celcius of 10 mins or until golden on top.

– Spread with jam (and butter for the non-vegan among you) and enjoy

Hope this finds you enjoying the fruits of life

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz

 

 

On the road again

After many weeks in and around Christchurch we have finally made our way south. This journey marks the first time that we are all travelling in the bus with car happily being towed behind.  It was a new experience which also highlighted the things that we still need to do or learn on the bus.  We have already become experienced at removing the car and trailer in order to back track after being led past our destination, thanks to our Tom Tom, and trying unsuccessfully to reverse with said trailer and car attached.

Our lunch spot at Mt Peel, South Canterbury

It has been a week of changes that is for sure.  Not only the change for the kids and I to be travelling with himself but also the change of not being around family and friends and also giving up on Facebook for the rest of this month (feels very strange not to update our travels daily and yet very refreshing at the same time) along with the weather suddenly changing from a heatwave yesterday to thunder, rain and hail today!  I guess that is what happens when you travel south as Autumn approaches.

So with the cold and stormy weather around us a warm afternoon tea treat was in order.  This is a basic scone recipe from The Edmond’s Cookbook which I have just halved in order to make it fit into our little bus oven.  It still makes the same amount of scones just a smaller version 🙂

Afternoon tea warm from the oven

Scones

1.5 Cups Flour (white or brown)

25 gm Cold butter

3 Teaspoons baking powder

1/4 Cup of currents or sultanas (optional)

1/2 Cup and 1/8 Cup rice milk – or cow’s milk … we only use rice milk because we don’t stock the other:)

• Preheat oven to 220 C
• Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl
• Cut the cold butter into small cubes and then ‘rub’ into the flour mix until it looks and feels like fine breadcrumbs.  Add fruit now if you are using it.
• Make a well in the middle of the flour and butter mix and pour in the milk
• Using a knife mix the flour and milk by cutting across it until a dough begins to form.
• Using your hands lightly bring the dough into one ball. You may need a little bit milk if it is a little crumbly or a little bit of flour if it is sticky.
• On a floured tray flatten the dough into a rectangle shape that is still at least 1.5cm high or higher (tray to top of dough)
• Cut into 16 squares and bake for 10 mins or until brown on top
• Enjoy warm or cold with butter and jam

Hope this finds you all happy, healthy and enjoying the life you have.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz